Records Requests
New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA) lets anyone ask a public agency for its records. These are the requests to the West Orange Board of Education made for this ledger, with their status. “Filed” means hand-delivered to the district; “Response due” is the applicable deadline, which a written extension from the district can move.
| Request | Status | Filed | Response due |
|---|---|---|---|
| OPRA-001: Paraprofessional staffing contract and billing | Filed | Oct 14, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
| OPRA-002: Paraprofessional coverage records | Filed | Oct 14, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
| OPRA-003: Instructional schedules, class coverage, and movies | Filed | Oct 14, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
How the deadlines work
- The district has seven business days after it receives a request to grant or deny it. Contracts, bills, and vouchers less than two years old are ordinarily due immediately. The law allows longer in a few defined cases, such as requests made for a commercial purpose, and a custodian may ask in writing for more time when records are in storage or need review.
- If the district neither answers nor asks for more time, the law treats the silence as a denial.
- A denial can be challenged within 45 days, at the state Government Records Council or in Superior Court.
The law is N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 and following, as amended in 2024. The Government Records Council posts the full text.
Requests by other residents
Other residents have asked the district for records on the same subject and shared what came back. These are not this ledger’s requests, so they are not in the table above, and they are published with the requester’s name and contact details removed. The dates are those in the custodian’s letters.
- July 7, 2025: the 2022 EduStaff agreement. Answered on July 16, 2025, the seventh business day, with the agreement. Made through OPRAmachine, where it is public. Response letter · Agreement, 13 pages
- September 4, 2026: the list of paraprofessionals employed through EduStaff for 2026-27. Answered on September 16, 2026, the seventh business day, with five pages listing 145 people by name, assignment, and employer: 132 “Edustaff” and 13 “Employed by West Orange”. The names are not published here. Custodian’s letter · The list with names removed, and counts by building
- September 18, 2026: EduStaff’s proposal, the executed contract, and its pricing under RFP 25-09. The district took an extension on September 29 to October 14, then on October 14 a second one to October 28, “in light of our current work demands”, reserving the right to a further extension. Custodian’s letter, October 14
- October 7, 2026: substitute coverage for paraprofessional absences, September 1 to 30. On October 16, which the letter calls the seven-business-day deadline (counting the October 12 state holiday), the district took an extension to October 30. Custodian’s letter, October 16, as received
The second and third of these ask for much of what OPRA-001 and OPRA-002 ask for.
What gets published
For each request: the text as filed, the date-stamped receipt, every response from the district in full, and the records themselves. The requester’s phone number is removed; his name and address appear as filed, by his own choice. Student names and other personal details are not requested, and would be removed if they arrived. The names of individual employees, including paraprofessionals, are removed from any record that carries them; the counts and the rest of the record are kept.